White House admits quid pro quo, saying request for 2016 poll probe was factor in frozen Ukraine aid
President Donald Trump's withholding of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine was linked to his request that the Ukrainians look into a claim — debunked as a conspiracy theory — about the 2016 U.S. election, a senior presidential aide said on Thursday, the ...
Mark Zuckerberg defends Facebook's policy against fact-checking politicians
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday defended the huge social network's policy of refraining from fact-checking politicians, saying it's not the job of tech firms to "censor." Speaking to students at Georgetown University in Washington, Zuckerberg responded to critics who argued that Facebook is ...
Wisconsin jury awards $450,000 in Sandy Hook defamation case
A jury in Wisconsin has awarded $450,000 to the father of a boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting after he filed a defamation lawsuit against conspiracy theorist writers who claimed the massacre never happened. A Dane County jury on Tuesday decided the ...
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has escalated her tiff with Facebook by running an ad — on Facebook — taking aim at its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. It's the latest example of growing resentment of Big Tech by Republicans and Democrats alike. The list of grievances is ...
Greta Thunberg tipped for Nobel Peace Prize, but media freedom or migration may throw up a surprise
Bookmakers seem confident that Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg is a shoo-in for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, but some experts are more cautious. The 16-year-old has already received Amnesty International's top honor and the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes dubbed the "alternative Nobel." Online ...
Singapore is about to introduce a law against "fake news" that rights groups have warned may stifle free speech and opposition politicians have said could give the government too much power as elections loom. The law was passed earlier this year after a public consultation. ...
U.S. targets yacht and planes of Russian as part of sanctions over meddling in 2018 elections
The U.S. sought to punish Russia on Monday for interfering with the November 2018 midterm elections by placing the yacht and private planes of a Russian financier on an international sanctions list along with employees of the Internet Research Agency that he has funded ...
Disinformation efforts and media manipulation now used in 70 countries, say Oxford researchers
Organized efforts to manipulate social media and public opinion are being carried out in at least 70 countries by government agencies and political parties, researchers said Thursday. A report by the Oxford Internet Institute found manipulation efforts have doubled over the past two years and ...
Facebook exempts politicians from fact-checking program, social network admits
Facebook has exempted politicians from its fact-checking program for more than a year, a representative of the firm said earlier this week. The exemption was disclosed by Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs, at the Atlantic Festival in Washington on Tuesday. According to the ...
FactCheck Initiative Japan NPO uncovers dodgy claims from Abe and others ahead of July vote
FactCheck Initiative Japan, a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization that analyzes information provided by politicians, has found issues with a number of claims that were made in relation to the July 21 Upper House election. Of the 11 claims of false or misleading statements and information it ...
Facebook and Microsoft launch contest to detect 'deepfake' videos ahead of U.S. election
Facebook Inc. is teaming up with Microsoft Corp., the Partnership on AI coalition and academics from several universities to launch a contest to better detect deepfakes, the company said in a blog post ai.facebook.com/blog/deepfake-detection-challenge on Thursday. The social media giant is putting $10 million into ...
